Surgical devices generally include, but are not limited to, clamps, scissors, forceps, dissectors, and retractors. Typically, such surgical devices consist of three elements: a handle, tissue engaging means, and a member extending between the handle and the tissue engaging means. The handle opens and closes the jaws of the tissue engaging means and often has a locking mechanism to hold the jaws closed. The jaws of the tissue engaging means vary extensively in configuration, length, angle, and delicacy depending upon the function of the device and the tissue being engaged. There are many variations of the member provided between the handle and the tissue engaging means. Such members have been provided in a large number of lengths, bends, and angles in order to allow the surgeon to place the jaws in a large number of locations in a wide variety of human body shapes and sizes.
Traditionally, surgeries have been quite invasive to the patient's body, often involving large open incisions. Such surgeries result in great trauma to the patients and require long periods of recovery time. Because these surgeries often involve large incisions, there has not been a strong need for providing surgical devices of a size and detail appropriate for a limited work area. In addition, in order to provide surgeons with a number of choices, surgical devices of various shapes have been provided.
In the recent past, minimally-invasive surgery (MIS) has grown in popularity as an alternative to traditional, large incision surgery. The term MIS refers to performing surgery in smaller incisions in order to reduce the trauma experienced by the patient, increase the speed of healing, and reduce the recovery time. For the patient, this ultimately equates to less time in the hospital which adds to the cost effectiveness of these procedures.
Understandably, it is very challenging for surgeons to perform surgical tasks in small, MIS incisions. The normal concerns of surgery are compounded with the unique problems brought about by MIS procedures. For example, since the objectives of open surgeries and MIS surgeries are often the same, the occluding of body conduits is still of concern. However, surgical devices of the past were designed for occluding of body conduits during open surgery wherein the size of the surgical device was not constrained by narrow diameters of small, MIS incisions. Thus, such surgical devices, which are necessary in most all procedures, protrude out of the MIS incision and have the potential to interfere with the surgeons' hands as they try to visualize, cut, dissect or suture within the incision. Additionally, in the area of non-minimally invasive surgery, the use of instruments has increased as the surgery technique, have become more and more complex.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a surgical device which minimizes the degree to which it potentially interferes with the surgeon during any surgery, thereby allowing the surgeon to perform more efficient surgery. It would be further advantageous to have a surgical device that allows proper positioning to predetermined body locations within the small incisions.